Tidewater Times August 2023

Tidewater Times

August 2023

our famous tent sale returns!

5 0 % O F F EVE RYT H I N G

B l u e M o o n S A L E

About the Cover Photographer

Jay Fleming

Jay discovered his passion for photography upon inheriting a hand-me-down Nikon film camera from his father, Kevin, a former National Geographic photographer. Jay immediately developed an affinity for looking at life through the lens of his camera, and what ensued was an exciting photographic journey that would eventually lead him to his career as a professional photographer. At the age of 35, Jay has an extensive portfolio that is sure to impress. His first book, Working the Water ~ a photographic narrative of the

Chesapeake Bay seafood industry, is in its fourth printing, and his second, Island Life , was a regional bestseller after its release in November 2021.

The cover photograph was taken from the waterfront of Tylerton, Maryland, on Smith Island as a storm was moving east across the Chesapeake Bay.

Jay may be contacted at 410-2798730 or by e-mail at jaypfleming@ gmail.com. Please visit his websiteJayFlemingPhotography.com.

Photo by Lisa Banting

Sign of the Times

by Helen Chappell

They pop up everywhere, like flowers at certain times of the year. Along the roads, on people’s lawns, and in places you’d never expect to see them.

Signs.

We’re not talking billboards shilling beach condos on Route 50. We’re talking about something a lot closer to home. The yard sign, on two steel stakes, supports the candidate or the idea of your choice, whether it’s a politician, a yard sale, or some controversy.

Usually, you see a lot of them during election time. A sign posted on your front lawn or even a bumper sticker on your car counts. You’re expressing and spouting your First Amendment rights, which is as it should be.

Lately, a lot of signs in Talbot County are protesting a development called Lakeside. I’ve never seen as many yard signs as I’ve seen this spring and summer protesting this place. The lines have been drawn, citizens and govern -

Daniel Robbins

ment are at daggers drawn and, well, it’s a controversy that has had a lot of money tossed at it. As of this writing, further events involving water and the doubling of the population of Trappe are all up in the air, and a lot of feathers are being ruffled.

It’s just that I’ve never seen so many yard signs around here in forever. People are not happy. But we live in divisive, surly times where a firmly planted yard sign can cause a neighborhood feud, mostly about politics. Although these differences are generally hashed out over too many drinks or a family holiday dinner where

12" x 16" oil

Sign of the Times

well, he’s clutching at straws, but hope springs eternal with certain people.

I always enjoy yard sale signs. Homemade and barely readable from the road, they’re a certain kind of folk art. They don’t want you to vote for anything or stop an unpopular project. They just want you to stop by and peruse their baby clothes, china, and electronic odds and ends. They’re friendly signs.

everyone comes with a covered dish and an unresolved issue.

I would say people on the Shore are generally tolerant of each other’s yard signs, although there are some common sorry types who live for stealing or destroying other people’s ads for their candidates. This is not only poor manners, it’s illegal.

And sometimes signs linger on long past the election or the sellby date or the yard sale.

I swear there’s this one sign that’s been out on 50 for about six years. It just sits there like a mullet haircut whose time has come and gone. You can use it as a navigational device. Why wind, weather, and time haven’t ripped this political endorsement sign into tatters is a question someone else is better equipped to answer. The candidate the sign endorses—

Unlike political signs—and, yes, I am guilty as charged with stabbing political signs into my front yard. It’s kind of interesting to see who votes for whom, though, and more interesting to see who cares enough to put out a sign endorsing a candidate or an idea.

I’m of sort of two minds about putting out a sign. On the one hand, my politics and my religion are not for public consumption. My friends know what I believe, and that’s mostly enough. On the other, if someone or something speaks to me and I want to see

that idea, the yard sign is the easiest way to do it.

In the end, signs have always been with us, from the days when a picture of a mug of ale could tell a thirsty, illiterate traveler this was the place to stop, or three gold balls, representing St. Nicholas, the patron saint of pawnbrokers, would tell you where to pawn your goods.

Today, they tell us not only who our neighbors endorse, but who they are, and the sign of the times continues.

I just have one favor to ask. After the election, the event, the yard sale, the chicken barbecue…please take down your sign to make room for the next event.

Helen Chappell is the creator of the Sam and Hollis mystery series and the Oysterback stories, as well as The Chesapeake Book of the Dead . Under her pen names, Rebecca Baldwin and Caroline Brooks, she has published a number of historical novels.

Listing and Selling on the Eastern Shore

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Embracing Hawaii - Part III

by Bonna L. Nelson

Volcanoes are monuments to Earth’s origin, evidence that primordial forces are still at work. Volcanic eruptions remind us that our planet is ever-changing, with its basic processes beyond human control.

National Park Service Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) Brochure and Map

We stood mesmerized at the edge of the massive volcanic crater, charcoal in color, charcoal in texture, spotted with white puffy steam coming from deep vents in the brittle surface of the earth. The volcanic depression filled our visual field. A mild sulfur odor filled our nostrils. Stunned and astonished, no one spoke. We were overcome by

the powerful beauty of primordial creation.

Leon, our erudite local tour guide, led our small group of eight, including my daughter, Holly, and me, on a tour of the “Big Island,” the biggest and youngest Hawaiian island, named Hawaii. We left our resort on our “home” island of Oahu at 5:30 a.m. to catch a 45-minute flight to the

Embracing Hawaii

charming, quiet town of Hilo, where Leon met us for our adventure.

The Big Island is home to Hawaii’s only active volcanoes, as well as exciting lava tubes, captivating waterfalls, unique black sand beaches, the United States’ only homegrown coffee (Kona), scenic beaches and snowy mountaintops. On this one magnificent island, visitors can travel through all but four of the world’s existing climate zones, with everything from the tropics to the polar tundra. According to various sources, these zones result from the Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa mountains providing elevation and shielding properties that contribute to the island’s many diverse climates. Some say that in order to fully ex-

perience the natural beauty, culture and spirit of the Hawaiian Islands, visitors must explore the island of Hawaii itself. The 4,035-square-mile island is the site of some of the earliest Polynesian settlements as well as the planet’s most massive mountain,

Mauna Loa. The largest volcano on Earth, it rises over 30,000 feet from its base on the sea floor, 13,679 feet from the ground and it continues to grow.

We were excited to fly to the Big Island from Oahu over ocean, islands and outcrops. Holly said after our adventure that she thought the areas we explored on the Island of Hawaii seemed more aesthetically pleasing and more authentic than the urban areas of Oahu, and more of what we expected to see in our 50th state. I agreed.

The views of the majestic Pacific Ocean, beaches lined with palm trees and quaint villages and towns on the drive to and from Hilo were the Hawaii we were looking for. When

“The

Godwin Rotimi oil on canvas

28.5 x 24 inches

Gaze II”

Embracing Hawaii

Leon drove us into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) on Chain of Craters Road and Crater Rim Drive, past tropical forests and lava fields to the Kilauea Crater, we knew that we had arrived in what we had pictured as the real Hawaii.

HVNP encompasses about a quarter million acres, which include the summit of the snow-capped Mauna Loa, 150 miles of hiking trails and the Kilauea Crater—the star of the show. Mauna Loa and Kilauea, two of the world’s most active volcanoes, continually add land to the Island of Hawaii.

Unlike explosive continental volcanoes, the more fluid and less

gaseous eruptions of Kilauea and Mauna Loa produce fiery fountains and rivers of molten lava. Added layer upon layer, the flows have created a barren landscape that forms a foundation for life. Kilauea has been erupting for more than 30 years, and each year its magma lava expands Hawaii by over 40 acres. Park scientists have made Kilauea one of the best-understood volcanoes in the world, providing insight into how the Hawaiian Islands were formed as well as planet Earth’s beginnings.

According to the park literature, the site demonstrates the amazing results of 70 million years of volcanism, migration and evolution—the results of which are beautiful islands with unique, complex unique ecosystems that support a distinct human culture. The Hawaiian Islands were created from the eruption of many volcanoes. Hawaii sits on a “hotspot,” an area of Earth’s mantle from which hot plumes rise upward, forming volcanoes on the overlying crust.

I learned from a NOAA website

Embracing Hawaii

that the Hawaiian Islands were formed by a hot spot occurring in the middle of the Pacific Plate. Earth’s outer crust is made up of a series of tectonic plates that move over the surface of the planet. In areas where the plates come together, volcanoes sometimes form. Volcanoes may also form in the middle of a plate, where magma rises upward until it erupts on the seafloor. Thus is the hotspot that feeds volcanoes on the Big Island.

Leon shared the experience he had with the Kilauea eruption 61 days before we arrived. He showed us photos of the lava traveling from the crater to the ocean. He described road closures, some of which are still in effect, roads and land covered with lava, and HVNP facilities destroyed. At that time, a boiling lake of lava. Two months later, at the time of our visit, a lake of hardened lava with streams of sulfurous white fumes. As of this writing, Kilauea has paused after a recent two-week eruption of glowing red lava, this

Situated on one of the finest residential parcels in the country, Ship’s Point, is an estate with few rivals anywhere, at any price. The completely private 16 +/- acre estate includes deep water pier and boathouse, proper guest home on its own contiguous parcel, and an extraordinary manor home with 270-degree views at the confluence of Trippe’s Creek and the Tred Avon River. The south-west facing manor house is undergoing a meticulous renovation by renowned builder Winchester Construction and will be complete this Autumn. A visit is necessary to understand the rarity of the views provided by the nearly one-half mile of shoreline that surrounds this home.

Offered for the first time in nearly forty years, Swan Point is the quintessential Eastern Shore estate. Situated on 4.5 +/- acres, with westerly exposure on the Tred Avon River this estate has it all. Private pier with 4’+/- MLW and 400 +/- of waterfrontage. The main house is classically charming and takes full advantage of the sunset water views. Spacious kitchen is complete with high-end appliances and large center island making it perfect for large scale entertaining. Primary suite is private with water views and a luxurious, spalike bath complete with jetted tub, separate shower and marble touches. The grounds include a paddock for horses and mature landscaping throughout. The estate is further improved by fabulous accessory structures including an equestrian facility.

Embracing Hawaii

time without damage to structures or communities.

To further enmesh us in the volcano phenomenon, Leon next took us to an older lava field nearby. Surprisingly, we were allowed to walk over and around the field, which was sparsely populated with tropical plants growing out of the lava rocks’ cracks and crevices. Holly, younger and more sure-footed than I, quickly ventured out to the edge of the rim of another volcanic crater. We were cautioned to be careful while hiking over holes, cracks, crevices, loose rocks and thin lava crust. By then the rainy, misty day had turned sunny,

and staying hydrated was advised as we explored the hot, shadeless lava fields.

Our next exciting volcano adventure in HVNP was in the Nahuku Thurston Lava Tube, a 450-foot tunnel east of the Kilauea Caldera.

Embracing Hawaii

Once the lava flow stops at the end of a volcanic eruption, the empty tunnel formation may remain. The Thurston Lava Tube could date back some 300–500 years. It is constantly monitored for safety purposes. We actually walked through a former lava flow. Mind-blowing!

After hiking through a section of lush Hawaiian rain forest rich with native flora and fauna, all the while serenaded by birds, we arrived at the lava tube. It was a cool, dark, wet tunnel made of hardened lava. The Tube, like hundreds of others like it on the island, was created by a river of molten lava flowing to the ocean at 25–30 miles per hour. Like veins leading from the central “heart” of a volcano, lava tubes direct molten earth toward the ocean.

What else do volcanoes create? Black sand beaches, of course. Richardson Ocean Park was our next stop. Nature sculpted protected lagoon-like pools from which the sea brushes up against the black lava sand beach. Families frolicked in the picnic areas on the black sand formed from volcanic activity. Laughter filled the air.

When active, volcanic lava travels like a river at temperatures exceeding 2,000°F. As the lava flows, the outer crust begins to harden while the inner lava continues to flow.

When Hawaii’s volcanoes erupt, the lava may flow to the sea and solidify. Wave erosion and pounding over the black hardened lava creates the black sand that covers existing beaches or land. We clamored over black lava boulders and rocks that still surround the area to better see Richardson Beach.

Holly and I were amazed by both

Embracing Hawaii

our best and to protect and cherish family, friends, community and nature’s gifts.

As Holly and I discussed and tried to distill what we had seen and experienced in the land of volcanoes, lava tubes and black sand beaches, Leon took us to two more sites with gifts of beauty. The 30-acre Lili’uokalani Gardens were a mix of natural and manmade gifts. Considered the largest Japanese garden outside Japan, it offered small pagodas, koi ponds, rock gardens, a tea house and tropical trees and plants connected by delicately arched foot bridges. The misty rain that was falling again only enhanced our stroll through the peaceful, meditative refuge.

the destruction and the beauty left behind by volcanoes. We thought about the immense power of the volcanic eruption that created Kilauea’s active, steamy lava field that stretched before us as far as our eyes could see, and which continues to erupt and create more island acreage. We thought about how life strives to endure in that environment as we walked over the nearby older lava field sprinkled with tropical flowers straining for life in the crevices of volcanic rock. We thought about how being in nature inspires our own power to create beauty, to evolve with strength, to strive to be

We dearly love waterfalls, so 80foot high Rainbow Falls, stretching 100 feet across and surrounded by lush tropical greenery, was a treat for the eyes. The falls earns its name from the rainbow created when the sun is filtered through the rising morning mist. Since it was afternoon by then, we did not experience the rainbow though the falls mist—just

Embracing Hawaii

mist from the Hawaiian rain gods. Leon said, “When it rains, the earth lives.” Rainbow Falls crashes over a natural lava cave, another gift from the volcanoes.

Their signature cookie is a shortbread dipped in chocolate and filled with crushed macadamia nuts. It was a great opportunity to purchase local authentic treats to take home for the family as well as for ourselves.

Our last stop before heading back to Hilo and the airport was a treat for the palate. For 40 years, Big Island Candies has specialized in creating delicious cookies and chocolates.

We snacked on shortbread cookies on our flight back to Honolulu after another long but thrilling day of viewing the unique natural beauty of Hawaii. The songs of Israel (Iz) Kamakawiwo’ole (1959-1997), which Leon played and discussed in the van during our tour, played on repeat in my mind that night as I tried to fall asleep with visions of volcanic magma, black sand, lava crust and lava tubes entertaining me in my dreams.

You have surely heard Iz’s charming “Over the Rainbow,” a medley

Embracing Hawaii

videos on YouTube and recordings on Pandora and other music apps. He is considered by many to be the greatest Hawaiian musician of all time.

I play Iz’s music often, especially when I want to embrace Hawaii again, embrace the beauty and magnificence of the Islands, embrace the gentle, peaceful people, embrace my daughter, Holly and recall our once-in-a-lifetime mother/daughter adventure in Hawaii.

of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World.” He strums the ukulele while singing the lyrics in his gentle, soothing voice. The song has been featured in several fi lms, television programs and commercials. You can fi nd his music

Hawaii is not a state of mind but a state of grace - Paul Theroux Aloha!

Bonna L. Nelson is a Bay-area writer, columnist, photographer and world traveler. She resides in Easton with her husband, John.

Pamela P. Gardner

Indulge in breathtaking sunsets

TABLE OXFORD, MD AUGUST 2023

TIDE

SHARP’S IS. LIGHT: 46 minutes before Oxford

TILGHMAN: Dogwood Harbor same as Oxford

EASTON POINT: 5 minutes after Oxford

CAMBRIDGE: 10 minutes after Oxford

CLAIBORNE: 25 minutes after Oxford

ST. MICHAELS MILES R.: 47 min. after Oxford

WYE LANDING: 1 hr. after Oxford

ANNAPOLIS: 1 hr., 29 min. after Oxford

KENT NARROWS: 1 hr., 29 min. after Oxford

CENTREVILLE LANDING: 2 hrs. after Oxford

CHESTERTOWN: 3 hrs., 44 min. after Oxford

3 month tides at www.tidewatertimes.com

4 Dogs Brewing in Easton Beer, Friendships and Community

by Michael Valliant

4 Dogs Brewing Company and Pub could have ended up in Atlanta or Charlotte or outside Washington, D.C., but the support of the community, the pull of the Eastern Shore and the way things started falling into place all pointed to Easton. As a result, four high school friends from Haddonfield, N.J., are realizing a

dream and have one of the most anticipated new businesses and community hotspots in town.

Patrick Ragan, Jim Marvel, Paul Setter and Matt Liska graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School together—home of the Bulldogs, hence the name of the brewpub. Each pursued different careers,

4 Dogs

but they reconnected eight years ago, making weekend trips together once a year. Beer is both a passion and an interest for all four dogs— not just drinking it, but the industry, the trends, the community and, in Matt’s case, brewing it.

Jim has family connections to the Shore that go back generations. When he retired from

Coca-Cola, he and his wife, Christine, knew they wanted to live here. The idea of opening a brewery took legs after Jim and Pat got to know and talk to Tim Miller, who owns National Premium and Wild Goose beers. As the business plan and dream of a brewery took shape, Pat was in Atlanta, Matt was in Charlotte, Paul was in Chevy Chase and each of the dogs started looking around to see if a location spoke to them.

That’s when Rob Lacaze, a college friend of Jim’s from University of Richmond, pointed them toward Joe Petro, owner of Hair O’ The Dog Wine and Spirits, and then Snifters Craft Beer and Wine Bistro. As the four dogs looked into the location

4 Dogs

they hosted several “soft openings” that invited people to come in, enjoy beer, spirits and food and provide feedback.

“One of the best parts has been going around at the soft openings and talking to people,” Jim said. “As we went to different tables, met people and heard their stories, the sense of creating something that people are excited to enjoy and be a part of has been great.”

and started talking to people in the community, everything started falling into place and they knew they had found a home for their dream.

“The way the community here has just taken us in and received us personally has been amazing,” Paul said. “It’s heartwarming when people come up to you and thank you for bringing your business here. That means so much.”

Community is at the heart of what 4 Dogs is about. From meeting with the Talbot Historical Society to find the historical photos of local pubs and beer that hang in the brewery, to the Easton Volunteer Fire Department providing an old fire hydrant (it only seems right that 4 Dogs needs a hydrant), to working with local artists and local distilleries Lyon Rum/Windon Distilling Company and Gray Wolf Craft Distilling, the 4 Dogs pedigree is rooted locally.

The July 8 grand opening of 4 Dogs was to a packed house with live music and a great feel in the air. To get ready for the grand opening,

Each of the four dogs brings his own life experience and perspective to the brew pub. Jim worked in sales, marketing, production and distribution at Coca-Cola. Paul worked in retail management and then in higher education, including running the testing center at Chesapeake College. Pat has done it all in the hospitality field—from restaurants, hotels and night clubs to beer, wine and spirits distribution. And Matt is a career engineer with a longtime passion and talent for brewing, starting years ago with a home brewing kit that was a pres-

4 Dogs

sey. And the sixth dog, Danny Bugh, has become a great investor and partner.

In thinking about opening a brewpub, the dogs asked and tried to answer the key question: what makes a great brewpub experience? The things they made sure to address are all top of the list: they wanted the right combination of great-tasting beers; they wanted to make sure they have great food; they wanted to have a cool place, centrally located and easy to get to with plenty of parking. And if someone doesn’t like beer, they wanted to make sure to have wine and cocktails.

ent from his wife. Over the years, his hobby grew to include bonding with his son Nate over brewing and deciding on the perfect combination of beers to have on tap if they ever opened a brewery.

“Each of us is a hub,” Paul said. “When I talk to Matt, our conversations are about beer. With Jim, we talk about the business side of things. And when I talk to Pat, we talk retail and merchandising. Jim is great about getting back to people; Pat catches details—and as a group, we cover all bases, which is fantastic. Our differences are our strengths.”

In addition to the original four dogs, two more partners have joined the pack. Hank Patterson, affectionately known as the “stray dog,” and his wife, Gail, are in the process of moving here full time from New Jer-

“We just didn’t want to leave anyone out. And we tried putting those things together into what we call 4 Dogs,” Matt said. “We know it is a place each of us and our families would want to hang out, and we want to make sure it covers what the Easton community wants as well.”

The craft beers at 4 Dogs are a

4 Dogs

mix of their own recipes, brewed off site, and “guest taps” of specially selected regional beers to enable the brewpub to adapt the space for the customer experience.

Beers at 4 Dogs are named one of two ways: either with a dog theme, such as “Sitting on the Dachshund of the Bay,” an American Wit beer, or in reference to the local area, as in their “Hoptank” New England IPA, which derives its name from the Choptank River. They are excited with the lineup of beers they are offering, as well as creating new beers seasonally and based on community feedback.

Pub is located at 219 Marlboro Avenue, 52B, next to Hair O’ The Dog Wine and Spirits, in the shopping center with Kohl’s and Lowe’s at either end. You can find them on the web at 4dogsbrew.com as well as on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

This new venture is a culmination of lifelong friendships, adventures and passions, but not just for the four high school friends. These are relationships to be shared and passed on to the community.

“We’ve taken the idea that this is Easton’s brewery—it’s not just ours, it’s the community’s, and we’ve embraced that,” Matt said. “This is Easton’s brewery, and we are just fortunate enough to be the ones with the tap handles in hand.”

Michael Valliant is the Assistant for Adult Education and Newcomers Ministry at Christ Church Easton. He has worked for non-profit organizations throughout Talbot County, including the Oxford Community Center, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and Academy Art Museum.

4 Dogs Brewing Company and

The Rumbling Red Knights

by Tracey F. Johns

I pulled into Chesapeake Landing Restaurant earlier this year for the celebration of life for this magazine’s former publisher, Hugh K. “Pop” Bailey, just as the hum of a group of motorcycles caught my ear and my heart.

As they funneled into the parking lot, their presence brought palpable reverence to the moment, much like a bagpiper does to a funeral. Many of the riders arrived in black leather jackets adorned with emblems and an assortment of pins, with all adding a little badassery to the moment.

It felt right to pause with the building rumble as I watched them all pull in. Tears welled in my eyes as I felt the power of this community coming together to pay their respects. The sound of their harmonizing engines softened as the riders stepped off, removed their helmets and greeted each other after driving separately together.

At the door, Hugh’s daughter and son-in-law, Anne and John Farwell—the current publishers of this magazine—greeted the guests and shared that these were all members of local chapters of the Red Knights Motorcycle Club.

Hugh had been a member, Anne currently serves as secretary and John is the quartermaster.

With chapters all around the world, the Red Knights bring together emergency responders and their families who enjoy riding motorcycles. The group began in Massachusetts in 1982 to promote a positive image of motorcycling while providing firefighters with a motorcycle club much like law enforcement’s Blue Knights club. The club later expanded to include motorcycling enthusiasts who are

Red Knights

in 2008 and now has 37 members from throughout the Mid-Shore. Ocean City’s Chapter 3 was the first chapter formed on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, with Chapter 7 in Galena the newest addition.

first responders and their families.

Now, more than 300 Red Knights chapters and 9,000 members throughout the world join together as a community. It makes sense that the very people who respond to our emergencies during their daily lives also enjoy the thrill of motorcycling.

Locally, we have the Lucky Deuces, or International Chapter 2, based in Easton, which was founded by 20 charter members

The Red Knights’ social activities are often centered on a good cause, whether it’s fundraising to help families and individuals in the aftermath of a fire, collecting toys for children during the holidays or participating in a memorial ride for a fallen member, police officer or first responder. They build a network of people who come together to help families in need, all while socializing and having fun.

“We’re a social organization with charitable initiatives,” says Red Knights Chapter 2 charter member and president Fred McCracken, an emergency services veteran and Trappe Volunteer Fire Company life member. “We especially help families and individuals facing the aftermath of a fire or the loss of a loved one who served as a first responder.”

Red Knights

is a retired transportation manager with Talbot County Public Schools and served 18 years as a fire control and emergency dispatcher with Talbot County, where he worked with fellow Red Knights Chapter 2 charter member Al Smith. McCracken currently rides a Harley-Davidson Tri Glide.

McCracken grew up and continues to live in Trappe, where he spent more than 50 years with the fire department in roles that included chief engineer, chief and trustee at one time or another. He

“Now, it’s more than a motorcycle ride,” McCracken says. “We stop and go to dinner together or take a break to just unwind. It makes life better when you can share interests and connect with people, and it can balance the bad stuff we leave behind.”

McCracken says the Lucky Deuces attend and participate in numerous annual events, in -

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Red Knights

cluding the Easton Police Department’s Toys for Tots Drive, Maryland State Police’s Bears that Care, a 9-11 ride in Ocean City, Benedictine’s Chrome City ride and numerous local parades. They also partner with other chapters for events that benefit causes like humane societies or breast cancer awareness.

site shifts for 18 years while with Talbot County’s 911 services.

“It’s good to get wind in your face,” says Smith as he reflects on a time when firefighters would hop up on an engine’s back step to head out toward a fire.

Smith is the Lucky Deuces’ current treasurer and rides a 2008 Harley-Davidson Heritage Soft Tail.

Trappe native and resident Mike Marshall is a 51-year volunteer firefighter with the Trappe Volunteer Fire Department and a Lucky Deuces charter member.

Red Knights Chapter 2 charter member Al Smith of Cordova is originally from Trinidad, Calif., and served for nearly 22 years as a volunteer firefighter with St. Michaels and Easton. He is a retired Talbot County Public Schools driver trainer and bus driver and worked with McCracken on oppo -

He worked at Waverly Press in Easton for 21 years before starting a house painting company. Marshall serves as Red Knights Chapter 2 vice president and rides his Harley Road Glide, Street Glide and V-Rod.

“I’ve been riding since I was a kid,” says Marshall. “I enjoy the camaraderie among members, and it’s a great way to get together and show off our toys and bikes.”

Marshall says their gatherings also give members a great opportunity to travel and meet new people while learning about the latest in motorcycle innovations and accessories.

When the original Red Knights were a young club, the easiest way

to tell others about the club was by firefighters visiting other fire stations. Soon, members who made a certain number of visits were rewarded with a certificate and a pin. Members now gain recognition by completing Grand, Red Knight and Firehouse tours. The coveted recognition comes with achieving the Alphabet tour, a 26-stop tour of fire stations with names starting with each of the alphabet’s letters.

Red Knights members around the world also offer a concierge service of sorts to other members who are traveling. “Where is the best place to eat, stay or get my bike worked on?” is answered through its Help-A-Knight pro -

Red Knights

gram, which includes a directory of members who have signed up to accept telephone calls, overnight guests, a place to leave your bike, tools for a much-needed repair and much more.

“First responders are a tightknit community,” says McCracken, reflecting that the Red Knights experienced major growth in the aftermath of 9-11. “Our brotherhood became even stronger after 9-11.”

clude holiday gatherings, a river cruise and an annual bike blessing led by the Rev. Bobby Davis of Easton, Md., and Church of the Brethren Cordova.

McCracken says current members hail from Trappe, Easton, Cordova, Cambridge, Preston, Denton, Church Creek, the Neck District and other local areas and towns.

McCracken says the group is planning a ride this September to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Pa., to pay respects to the first responders and those whose lives were lost in the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, one of four aircraft hijacked during the September 11 attacks in 2001.

The local club is also hosting a fundraiser to help with its Burn Out fund, with Lucky Deuces challenge coins and patches available for purchase. Annual events in -

Chapter 2’s monthly meetings are held at Mike Marshall’s shop at 508 August Street in Easton. Each meeting starts with reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the pastor opening the meeting with a prayer. Snacks and drinks are usually provided.

New emergency responder members are invited to join the club, with active members required to have a motorcycle li -

cense and access to a motorcycle. Social, associate and honorary memberships are also available. There’s an application fee and annual dues, with the Red Knights a 501(C)(3) registered nonprofit.

For more information on the Red Knights’ Lucky Deuces, follow Red Knights MD 2 on Facebook or reach out to Fred McCracken at fmccracken@verizon.net . More

about the international club is at redknightsmc.com .

Publisher’s Note: John and I would like to thank this wonderful group of men and women for accepting “Pop” into the Knight’s family. He truly loved going to the meetings and parades, and just being included.

Tracey Johns has worked in communications, marketing and business management for more than 30 years, including non-profit leadership. Tracey’s work is focused on public and constituent relations, along with communication strategies, positioning and brand development and project management.

Easton Map and History

The County Seat of Talbot County. Established around early religious settlements and a court of law, Historic Downtown Easton is today a centerpiece of fine specialty shops, business and cultural activities, unique restaurants, and architectural fascination. Treelined streets are graced with various period structures and remarkable homes, carefully preserved or restored. Because of its historical significance, historic Easton has earned distinction as the “Colonial Capitol of the Eastern Shore” and was honored as number eight in the book

“The 100 Best Small Towns in America.” With a population of over 16,500, Easton offers the best of many worlds including access to large metropolitan areas like Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, and Wilmington. For a walking tour and more history visit https:// tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/easton-maryland/.

Sailing Through Hooper’s Straits

by Louis C. Wainwright in 1941

Transcribed, edited and with notes by James Dawson from an old manuscript he found.

One scarcely has told of life by the water, if he tells nothing of tides, ships, storms and calms.

Generally near sunset, the winds may change and blow from the water. There is a probability of a lull at this time, and then mosquitoes, which take cover when the wind blows, reappear and make pestiferous history.

Sometimes on bay or ocean a protracted calm prevails. Perhaps such a calm suggested to Coleridge the lines, “As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.”

Any story of Deal’s Island and of Tangier Sound can not well ignore the calms that hold the white winged vessels as though they were leashed—to mere drifting as though

Hooper's Straits

their wings had lost their power.

It was in the early 1880s that such a calm overtook us at Hooper’s Straits, which is, so to speak, the northern corridor that leads from Tangier Sound to the Chesapeake Bay proper.

It was a real calm, almost equal to one encountered off Cape Hatteras or about the “horse latitudes.”

Calm and sitting in the sun, waiting and hoping, frying and gasping, and like the old Roman calling, “Come aurora!” such was our lot.

Now waiting for a train is a tedious experience; waiting for a belated overland is more tedious, even irritating.

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To wait for ten hours, as I have done not infrequently, is an agony. Most of my hunting and fishing has been done between trains or between stages, to give you some occupation or diversion.

Waiting for a train? Well, waiting on a becalmed vessel is very much the same—“only more so.”

Reverting to the poet’s figure of speech about the idleness of a painted ship upon a painted ocean, one may remark that of course the

canvas hangs motionless on the wall, but such could scarcely be the poet’s meaning.

But a picture, though a painting, is to be judged by its motive or generating idea, and rarely if ever does either a painted ship or a painted ocean appear devoid of the idea of motion, while in reality, though there be a calm, the great ocean swells rise and fall, and the tides ebb and flow. There may be lack of progress, but there is no idleness—and especially is this so, if one is sea sick.

If the comparative idleness of a calm at sea be a consideration, one needs no poetic stimulus to quicken his apprehension; a blazing sun, a breathless atmosphere, limp sails

Hooper's Straits

and a burning deck will amply attest, even on Tangier Sound or in Hooper’s Straits. On the great deep where, even when the surface is riffleless and glassy in calm, the prodigious swells rise and fall leisurely, and the ship lacks the steadying support of winds in the sails, then a subtle nausea creeps up in the stomach till one feels he will surely loose it; little reasoning is required to assure of a settling calm on the great deep, but it is not wholly idle within or without.

Several times have I been becalmed and twice, despite the delay and exertion such calm affords me a rare experience. One of these ex-

periences I shall attempt herewith to relate.

A few persons on Deal Island had planned a trip to Baltimore. Thinking we should be in the City in a few hours, no provisions were made for food. We set forth early in the morning and with the laughter of a merry summer wind we rode gaily into Hooper’s Straits, which form the pass from Tangier Sound to Chesapeake Bay.

All was merry and jaunty until we reached the Strait and then calm. It was as though nature had suspended operations for a spell, or Aeolus had gathered up his wind-bag all storm and tempest, not only, but even the fragments of a breeze and the puff s of even a flurry. It was calm.

Hooper's Straits

The sun put on his warmest clothes and the “sharpie-rigged” little craft made ready for a siesta in the sun. It was a genuine calm.

Bloodsworth Island was near at hand, and the sailors told “yarns” about Bloodsworth—and how its shy inhabitants were wont to stand behind trees in some growth to look at strangers.

Such tales of deer lurking and peeping!

They were like deer peeping and looking through the bushes, said some, and that if they were discovered they ran like deer. Such ridicule with Bloodsworth at hand, made one keen with desire to see

or explore the island, but the calm prevented a shore trip.

We shifted the sails so as to be on the shady side of them. Thirst became insistent. We sat in the sun and ate and drank our all.

In such manner we passed the day. After several hours in the sail’s shadow now and again a light wind sprang up, but subsided soon. In its way we shook Bloodsworth from our lee and in snatches proceeded up the bay until we were about Sharp’s Island, for a good six hours run—in a fair wind—from Baltimore.

It was about dinner time and we summoned our imaginations, “Waiter, bring me a porterhouse steak.”

The winds evidently had spring

winds evidently

Hooper's Straits

fever—and what did they care whether a few adventurers reached Baltimore for supper? “Fickle as the wind” is an old aphorism.

The winds ceased for lisping, the glassy bay blankly stared at us and gave no sign of recognition; and above, the sun adjusted his lens to cause his fire streams to converge on us, as though we were grand fish to fry. Hours passed and not a sail quivered. Were we dreaming? or were we really in the Sahara? And all the water and shorelines which we saw, were they only a mocking mirage?

The Captain had a bubble of

sport left in him, and called to the acting mate: “Hard down there, mate, and bring that bow around.”

The mate caught his mood and responded; “She won’t obey the tiller, Cap’n, an’ there ain’t no wind to mer her.”

Called one: “Skipper, what’s that land to starboard, over there?”

“Merryland, you lout,” shrilled the skipper.

“O Merryland, my merry land.

“Yo’ ain’t so merry what I stand,” sang the sailor.

The sun had passed the meridian, but still high in the heavens, it glared down upon us from torrid heights. The hold was stifling, the decks were hot, and the sun as though in wrath glared down upon us, while the sails hung listless.

“Sailing, sailing, over a bounding sea,” piped a weak tenor.

“All but the sailing,” called the mate.

So it was that we vainly sought to pass the time while we waited. The decks were hot, as sheep we sought to get into the shade of one another.

We had not yet lost either our tempers or hope, but somehow or other our voices were not as cheery and gracious as they had been in mid-morning.

One of the men turned to me and said with a half sneer, “Well what do you think of it?”

“It’s great,” said I.

“What’s great?” he carped.

“The heat,” I responded.

He snorted, and the mate interjected, “That’s what.”

In this way with humor half artificial, we passed the hours till supper time, which we knew had arrived by the position of the sun and certain wireless intimations, or instincts; and our cravings were the more pronounced by reason of our knowledge that there was no supper on board.

But presently the wind bethought itself of making a little stir, after which preliminary a strong breeze took hold of the sails and filled them; the waves leaped happily, and began to don their little white caps, and hi yo! we were on our way to Baltimore.

It required about six hours of fast sailing, but about midnight we reached the city, and after much

search found a restaurant that kept open so late, and we did the natural thing—we ordered a porterhouse steak. Services in those days were not chary, and the huge steaks brought us were sufficient for a small family, but a foodless day on the deep made us ready for things large and weighty.

We ate all but the bones and the plates and a painted ocean, but the sun had painted us red, even unto tenderness and pain.

Notes by J.D.

Hooper Straits is that mile-wide passage of water off from Monie Bay between Hoopers and Bloodsworth islands that leads into the Chesapeake Bay from the mainland.

Hooper's Straits

Tangier Sound is that area of water between Tangier, Smith and South Marsh islands.

Being becalmed in a sailboat in the Chesapeake Bay was not so different in the 1880s than from now except that in the 1880s they didn’t have auxiliary motors, cellphones, GPS or coolers filled with cold drinks.

I can speak from personal experience when I say that there ain’t nothin’ hotter than being becalmed on a sailboat in the summer-afternoon doldrums on the Chesapeake Bay. And somehow the sun’s rays bouncing off the sails makes it even hotter. There’s no place to hide!

Thankfully, later in the afternoon the land breeze usually kicks in and breeze and boat hopefully will start moving again.

Baltimore had a number of notable restaurants at that time, including Barnum’s City Hotel on Monument Street, Guy’s, Rennert’s Downtown Restaurant and later the famous Hotel Rennert, which opened in 1885. The Hotel Rennert Restaurant was a favorite of Baltimore sage H.L. Mencken.

James Dawson is the owner of Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe.

Melissa Grimes-Guy Photography

Dorchester Map and History

Dorchester County is known as the Heart of the Chesapeake. It is rich in Chesapeake Bay history, folklore and tradition. With 1,700 miles of shoreline (more than any other Maryland county), marshlands, working boats, quaint waterfront towns and villages among fertile farm fields – much still exists of what is the authentic Eastern Shore landscape and traditional way of life along the Chesapeake.

For more information about Dorchester County visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/dorchester/.

TIDEWATER GARDENING

by K. Marc Teffeau, Ph.D.

The Hot, Dry Days of August

The hot days of late summer are still with us, but you might notice that the amount of sunshine is shortening a bit more each day. These shorter days will start to affect plant growth and fruit and flower production. August also tends to be a drier month, with rainfall provided by scattered

thunderstorms. It’s important that you irrigate garden and landscape plantings to prevent them from going into drought stress.

With hot and dry August weather, be on the lookout for red spider mites. These tiny sucking creatures feed on all types of shrubs and flowers, leaving normally

green leaves speckled with white. Inspect your roses, evergreens and marigolds for signs of pale green coloration. To verify the presence of these pests, hold a white sheet of paper under the foliage and briskly tap a branch. Look at the paper

Tidewater Gardening closely for tiny crawling dots, or run your finger over some of the spots on the paper. If the spots streak red or black, you have spider mites.

If the infestation and damage are light, mites may be discouraged by a forceful direct spray from the water hose, especially to the undersides of the plant’s foliage. One reason the populations of these mites become a problem in hot, dry weather is that there is no or limited rainfall to wash them off the plants. Severely infested annuals should be removed from the garden and destroyed. Your shrubs and perennials may require treatment with a miticide such as a summer oil spray or an insecticidal soap. If you do treat the plants, apply the material early in the day to avoid having the leaves burned by high temperatures.

It is very important that your fruit crops like strawberries, brambles and blueberries get adequate moisture in August. These fruits are forming buds for next year’s

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crop. Keep them well watered for better production next year.

August is the time to fertilize strawberries. University of Maryland Extension fertilization recommendations depend on whether the strawberry varieties are June bearing or everbearing. In the first year, fertilize June-bearing plants with 0.30 ounces of nitrogen (N)

per 10 feet of row six weeks after planting and again in August. For plants two years and older, fertilize with 0.30 ounces of nitrogen (N) per 10 feet of row in August. For day-neutral and everbearing varieties, fertilize first-year plants with 0.90 ounces of nitrogen (N) per 10 feet of row once a month June through September. For plantings two years and older, UM Extension recommends 0.60 ounces of nitrogen (N) per 10 feet of row once a month, May through September.

The August gardening schedule includes feeding fall-blooming flowers, staking tall plants, dividing iris and day lilies, and starting a compost pile. Start these tasks

now for brighter blooms this fall and a better flower garden next year. Plants that bloom in late summer and fall, such as chrysanthemums and asters, should be fertilized in July or August. Apply a general-purpose liquid fertilizer according to label instructions. It’s too late to feed roses, as the tender late-summer growth that fertilizing encourages may not withstand the winter temperatures.

Remember to check hanging baskets and container-grown flowers and vegetables every day. Sometimes, not being at eye level puts them out of mind. Push your finger an inch or two into the soil

to be sure there is adequate moisture throughout the root area. Water thoroughly each time you water, but be careful not to overwater.

While you can give the annual flowers a little fertilizer “jolt” in August, now is not the time to fertilize trees and shrubs in the landscape. Fertilizing now tends to stimulate late-season growth that will not tolerate cold and will be killed off by the first hard fall frost. In addition to promoting soft growth, fertilizing now will stimulate the plants to grow if warm temperatures persist well into fall. When this happens, you can be sure that the plants will not survive the winter. If you didn’t get around to fertilizing your trees and

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shrubs in spring, continue to forget about it until November.

used plastic electric cable ties successfully in the vegetable garden to hold tomato stems against stakes, so you might also try them in tying up flowers. While you are tying up stems, be sure to cut out and remove dead flower stalks.

Some of those tall flowers in the garden may need a little support in August. Stake them with bamboo stakes or metal rods before the plants bend over. Fancier—and more expensive—metal stakes for tall flowers are also available from some of the more upscale gardening catalogs. Dahlias, delphiniums and hollyhocks need support for the best flower display. Use string or twist ties to fasten the flowers to the support. Tie the string tightly to the support, but loosely around the plant or stem. I have

Take a look at your current perennial plantings, and plan now for changes if needed. August is usually the best time for moving and dividing perennials, as the gardening pace has slowed considerably. Don’t forget to add new bulbs to your landscape design as you are evaluating the perennial flowerbed. Check out catalogs and your local garden center for early arrivals of spring-flowering bulbs.

Daffodils, crocus and other spring-flowering bulbs are not the only bulbs that can be planted now for flowering next year. In August, magic lilies seem to sprout from nowhere. Also known as Naked Lady or Resurrection Lily, and known botanically as Lycoris squamigera , these gaudy and somewhat ungainly lilies belong to the amaryllis family and are native to southern

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Japan. My grandmother used to have a planting along a fence where five to seven four-inch-long pink flower trumpets appeared seemingly overnight atop the pale, naked three-foot-tall stems.

Magic lilies are easy to grow and do well in any average garden soil in full sun or partial shade. Sold in garden centers in both spring and fall, they require no fertilization and are pest free. Magic lily bulbs themselves are as large as three inches in diameter with long necks. It’s best to plant these bulbs in a permanent location in the landscape, as they persist for years and prefer not to be moved once established.

Their foliage comes up in late winter and looks like a large-leafed clump of daffodils, but without flowers. There will be one bloom for about every 10 leaves produced by the clump. The leaves die away with the arrival of the first warm days of late spring, usually disappearing below ground by late

May. This growth pattern is an adaptation of the species to survive in areas with moist springs and prolonged periods of summer drought.

Don’t forget your fall vegetable garden! Crops like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, spinach, lettuce and onions can be planted in August. Also don’t forget root crops like beets, carrots, turnips and rutabagas.

There are many advantages to having a fall vegetable garden. Late planting extends the garden’s usefulness, providing a continuing supply of fresh vegetables, and may yield higher quality crops than those you get from spring plantings. It’s also usually easier to control the weeds, as many of the summer annual weeds are going to seed.

Vegetables harvested in fall may actually be better suited for canning and freezing than those grown earlier since they develop more slowly under early fall growing conditions. This may give you crops that are tastier and tenderer.

Be sure to select fall vegetable varieties with a relatively short maturing time. Fifty to 70 days is best. Although there’s always the possibility of an early frost, the fall season in this area tends to remain mild for quite a while. Many of the crops suitable for planting now will hold up against anything short of a hard frost. Peas, both

regular and sugar snap varieties, can be planted in early August.

In August, you may notice that hosta leaves are starting to look a little ragged, yellowed or scorched (brown leaf margins). There are different causes for these leaf conditions. The most common is hot, dry conditions, especially if the hosta have a fair amount of sun exposure. Another cause is leaf diseases like alternaria or anthracnose (Colletotrichum). It is best to remove the damaged foliage to improve plant appearance and to slow down disease progression. Spraying a fungicide is not recommended.

In your herb garden, it’s time to harvest and preserve tarragon,

rosemary, basil, sage and other culinary herbs. Herb leaves are most intensely flavored right before the plant blooms. To keep the plants producing leaves, remove the flower buds as soon as you see them so the energy that is going into flower production goes back into the plant instead. Many herbs tend to self-sow if the flowers are not removed. Dill produces seeds

that fall around the parent plant and come up as volunteers.

If you grow sunflowers and want to harvest the seeds, wait until the seeds are fully grown and firm. As the reverse side of the sunflower head turns from green to a yellow-brown, the heads will nod downward. A close look will reveal that the tiny petals covering the developing seeds have now dried and fallen out, easily exposing the tightly packed mature seeds.

When the seeds are mature, cut the head, leaving one foot of stem. Hang the heads in a warm, dry place that is well ventilated and protected from rodents and

insects. Keep the harvested seed heads out of high-humidity conditions to prevent spoilage from molds, and let them cure for several weeks. When the seeds are thoroughly dried, dislodge them by rubbing two heads together or by brushing them with your fingers or a stiff brush. Allow the seeds to dry for a few more days in airtight glass jars in the refrigerator to retain their flavor.

Happy Gardening!

Marc Teffeau retired as Director of Research and Regulatory Affairs at the American Nursery and Landscape Association in Washington, D.C. He now lives in Georgia with his wife, Linda.

St. Michaels Map and History

On the broad Miles River, with its picturesque tree-lined streets and beautiful harbor, St. Michaels has been a haven for boats plying the Chesapeake and its inlets since the earliest days. Here, some of the handsomest models of the Bay craft, such as canoes, bugeyes, pungys and some famous Baltimore Clippers, were designed and built. The Church, named “St. Michael’s,” was the first building erected (about 1677) and around it clustered the town that took its name.

For a walking tour and more history of the St. Michaels area visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/st-michaels-maryland/.

Doing the Impossible by A.M.

Varley H. Lang lived the latter half of his life in Tunis Mills, by Leeds Creek—a far cry from Baltimore, where he was born in 1912. After relocating to Talbot County, he accomplished a nearly impossible feat: successfully adopting a career “on the water” at the age of 40. Lucky for him, oysters were abundant at the time. Lucky for us, he was uniquely qualified to record the intricacies of his new profession. However vast the variables involved in hand tonging oysters, he described the process clearly in his book Follow the Water.

Dr. Lang held a doctor of philosophy degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he had taught English for several years, before moving to New York State College for Teachers. Along the way, he developed a distaste for cities and a disdain for college students’ deficiencies in their native tongue. So he left teaching entirely and moved to a creekside house inherited from his parents, where he took up life as a waterman. His midlife career switch was surely met with skepticism from other watermen, who saw disillusioned aspirants come and go when faced with realities on the water.

Foley

Those born into the business made it look rather easy, especially in favorable weather. Actually, locating and harvesting from oyster rocks, as tides ebbed and flowed, winds “dish cam” or blowing, is more complicated than it might seem to the uninitiated. Nevertheless, the professor persevered. (“In my first week as a tonger, I made precisely four dollars.”) Simultaneously, the philosopher in him marveled at the phenomenon of “tactual extension.”

A more-typical waterman in -

herits generations of wisdom. He isn’t likely to give a moment’s thought to tactual extension. Dr. Lang, in his otherwise nontechnical 1961 book, described tactual extension as the ability to “extend the nerve ends of our fingers and hands through the inert material of the tool and actually ‘feel’ with it.” Barring a rare low tide, sensitivity to one’s tongs is essential to an oysterman. Regulators at the Department of Natural Resources call the tool’s use “shaft tonging,” referring to the scissor-like wooden poles between the oysterman and his toothed metal tong head. Born watermen call it “hand tong-

ing,” with no mention of the intervening “inert material,” though its makeup and shape are important.

Tongers need an assortment of shafts of different lengths (up to 30 feet, even 36) in order to reach oysters on changing tides at different locations, and to do so comfortably while balancing on the washboards of a pitching workboat. When 40-year-old Dr. Lang entered his second career, apparently even a novice could make a living. An experienced tonger could raise up to a half-bushel of oysters at a time. Probing with tongs, he felt among the shells on oyster rock for live specimens, raked these into a pile and then joined the shafts together, en -

Oxford Map and History

Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. Although already settled for perhaps 20 years, Oxford marks the year 1683 as its official founding, for in that year Oxford was first named by the Maryland General Assembly as a seaport and was laid out as a town. In 1694, Oxford and a new town called Anne Arundel (now Annapolis) were selected the only ports of entry for the entire Maryland province. Until the American Revolution, Oxford enjoyed prominence as an international shipping center surrounded by wealthy tobacco plantations.

Today, Oxford is a charming tree-lined and waterbound village with a population of just over 700 and is still important in boat building and yachting. It has a protected harbor for watermen who harvest oysters, crabs, clams and fish, and for sailors from all over the Bay. For a walking tour and more history visit https://tidewatertimes. com/travel-tourism/oxford-maryland/.

Doing the Impossible

closing the pile in the tong head’s basket. He had then to raise them hand-under-hand from the bottom, swing his “lick” on board and part the shafts, dumping the catch onto the culling board. An extragood jag of oysters with rake and shaft might weigh most of a hundred pounds.

The material of shafts affected the total weight. Around the MidShore, long-leaf Georgia heartpine was considered ideal, being fine grained, relatively lightweight and impervious to water. Brothers Cornelius and Wilbur Messick of Bivalve in Wicomico County made such shafts, attracting watermen

from far and wide. (A craftsman nearby once discovered a more lightweight species and sold a number of the revolutionary new shafts to neighbors. In the course of a day’s work, the porous wood gradually sponged up water, leaving the maker with very sore customers.)

Sharecropping Chesapeakestyle, a good hand tonger would have no problem finding a culler to sort the board, shoving open shells and undersized oysters back onto the bar. The better the tonger, the sooner the pair would have their legal limit, maximizing the pay they divided: a share to each and one for the boat. Lang doesn’t mention ever employing a culler. Perhaps solitary contemplation

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suited him better than the banter typical among oystermen.

Despite having no intention of ever writing a book, the exprofessor naturally made notes of thoughts and incidents that particularly struck him in the course of his day. Lang may have been inspired to write Follow the Water when a fellow waterman said,

“Someone should attempt to tell people what free watermen are like, since it’s entirely possible that they may soon disappear altogether.” There came a time, one especially severe winter, Chesapeake tributaries froze solid, making hand tonging impossible. Forced into idleness, Lang pecked out such a manuscript with one finger and found a publisher.

My colleague Jim Dawson kindly unearthed a 1961 article from Baltimore’s Evening Sun , possibly Lang’s only stab at publicizing the book. The new author spoke of watermen in the third person: “For most, the water’s lure is irresistible. They cherish the independence as well as the satisfaction

that comes from the experience.” Asked if he personally had any regrets about leaving teaching for life on the water, he said, “not a single one.”

In the 1960s, such literature was not readily available, but the thought that watermen might disappear wasn’t new. After many years spent in a country store on the Shore, a wise lady said she’d been hearing two things all her life: “The world’s comin’ to an end” and “There’ll be no oysters this year.” The annual prediction of doom very nearly came true when Hurricane Hazel and two oyster diseases struck, mak-

ing hand tonging unprofitable. A Mid-Shore waterman who graduated high school during the die-off lamented, “I never had a chance to get good at hand tonging. Oysters were so scarce you could only bring up one or two a lick—one here and one there. [A generation earlier] Dad and Pop Pop could get half-a-bushel a lick.”

Down in Virginia, Larry Chowling of Urbana’s Southside Sentinel spent a long day with a hand tonger on the Rappahannock River for his 1990 book Harvesting the Chesapeake . Lifetime waterman Roosevelt Wingfield harvested three bushels that day. He told Chowling, “The sad part of all this is, you’re looking at a dying art.

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The young ones now can’t make a living with hand tongs. It won’t be long before all this will be a thing of the past. You wait and see.”

As the number of hand tongers dwindled and their average age increased, Maryland’s Natural Resources Department gradually eased into lightening the strain, permitting the use of power winders to aid raising the shafts, yet only as far as the water line, while buoyancy naturally modified the effort. No assistance was permitted lifting the load aboard the boat and opening the tong heads over the culling board.

Historically, these natural oyster rocks were held “in common,” open to the public. Over time,

states had introduced restrictions, likely beginning in 1661, when Virginia decreed that (only) Native people needed a license to oyster. Virginia and Maryland gradually introduced residency requirements by state and by county, imposed catch limits and specified harvest methods. Dredge boats such as skipjacks were confined to deeper-lying oyster rocks; hand tongers had the exclusive right to work rocks more accessible.

Lang called the oyster bars “the last major holdings of highly fertile

public lands worked in common by the free citizens of the Free State of Maryland…a splendid tradition which should not be carelessly and willfully destroyed.” The state now bans hand tongers from working an increasing number of formerly public oyster bars, reserving them as sanctuaries, despite the spread of aquaculture.

If overharvesting bears blame for the decline in oysters, hand tongers are hard to blame. They work a tool akin to what colonist John White sketched around 1585: a Native American in a canoe raking oysters. Colonists introducing metal tong heads improved oystering, but not so far as to cause overharvesting, regardless of their number.

A contemporary of Varley Lang spoke of going tonging with his father. They left their creek well before daybreak, his dad navigating instinctively to a particular spot on the river, where he tossed out a killick. “When the sun started to break,” the son recalled, “there would be boats anchored all around, neither one of us with

Oxford Business Association August 2023 Calendar

8/1 - 11 - ‘From Colonial Past to Present, Oxford in Business’- Last chance, exhibit closes 8/11; open Fri-Mon, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Oxford Museum, 101 S. Morris St. More info at www.oxfordmuseummd.org/ 8/3 or 8/30 - Bring Your Own Piece Furniture Painting Class$65, includes 4 oz. jar of paint. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Limit of 3 participants. The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St. For more info or sign up, go to www.treasurechestoxford.com or call 410-924-8817.

8/4 - Sujata Massey - The Mistress of Bhatia House - Indian themed lunch and chat with the author. Oxford Community Center, 12 p.m. Books available. Presented with Mystery Loves Company. oxfordcc.org for more info.

8/5 - Cars and Coffee - Come out and enjoy cars, coffee, and camaraderie. Sponsored by Prestige Auto Vault and Doc’s Sunset Grille. Oxford Community Center. Free; 8:30 -10:30 a.m. www. oxfordcc.org or 410-226-5409.

8/5 - Happy Hour Summer Concert - Rosewood - blues and rock; 5 - 7 p.m., $10; Oxford Community Center www.oxfordcc.org or 410-226-5409.

8/9 - Sign Painting and Transfers - learn how to paint a sign with and apply a decorative transfer. All materials provided. Limit 4 students; 530-7:30 p.m., $36 The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St. For more info or sign up, go to www.treasurechestoxford.com or call 410-924-8817.

8/12 - Book Signing - Donna Andrews signs ‘Birder She Wrote’ at Mystery Loves Company, noon - 2 p.m., 202 S. Morris St., 410-226-0010.

8/12 - Happy Hour Summer Concert - Rising Tide - a mix of folk, rock, country; 5 - 7 p.m., $10; Oxford Community Center www.oxfordcc.org or 410-226-5409.

8/12 - Memories and Musings: St Paul’s Church Restoration and Rejuvenation - Oxford Museum, 5 - 6:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Church. RSVP to theoxfordmuseum@gmail.com by 8/5.

8/13 - Pancake Breakfast - Oxford Volunteer Fire Department, 8 - 11 a.m.

8/17-27 - Tred Avon Players presents ‘Looking’ - https://www.tredavonplayers.org/schedule for dates, times & tickets.

8/18 - SILK All-in-One Chalk Paint Demo - 5:30 - 6:30 p.m., $10. Limit of 6 participants. The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St. For more info or sign up, go to www.treasurechestoxford.com or call 410-924-8817.

8/18 - Oxford Museum Member’s Opening Reception - 5 - 6:30 p.m., at St. Paul’s Church; Members Only. Oxford. RSVP by 8/9 theoxfordmuseum@gmail.com

8/19 - Duck, Duck, Goose - Presenting Talbot County’s Decoys and Carvers - The new Oxford Museum exhibit; Fri-Mon, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Until Nov 12. Oxford Museum, 101 S. Morris St. More info at www.oxfordmuseummd.org/ .

8/24 - Beginner Chalk Mineral Paint Class - $45, all materials provided. 5:30 - 8 p.m. Limit of 3 participants. The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St. For more info or sign up, go to www.treasurechestoxford.com or call 410-924-8817.

8/26 - Crab Skiff Races - at the Strand; 12 noon. Smith Island Crab Skiff Association. Ferry opens 9 am d aily, call 410-745-9023 for last trip time. Check instagram@oxfordvintagetrade for weekly events and promotions. Check restaurant and shop websites or Facebook for current days/hours.

Doing the Impossible

a light. How we never ran into each other, I don’t know.”

Younger men now hand tonging the area can be counted on one hand, with fingers left over. As one waterman says of hand tonging, “It’s definitely a dying art.” He seems melancholy to feel

the age-old prophecy coming to fulfillment. Others not so much. Tonging provides a lively, handson demonstration for visitors at a museum, conducted off the edge of a wharf where watermen once harbored workboats.

Decades before he documented midcentury life on the water, the academic Lang had published his Ph.D. dissertation on 18th-century poet George Crabbe, a sci-fi short story and a small volume of his own poetry. Aside from these diverse writings, no further works are known to exist. Waterman Lang worked from the mid-1950s to the late ’80s. He died at 82 on June 6, 1994, and was buried following a private service.

410-822-7716

Forty-some years ago, A.M. Foley swapped the Washington, D.C. business scene for a writing life on Elliott Island, Maryland. Tidewater Times kindly publishes Foley’s musings on regional history and life in general. Published works are described at www.HollandIslandBook.com .

Did you know August is known as the “DOG DAYS of SUMMER”? Speaking of dogs or pets... remember the pet approved carpet, lvp, rugs and much more, that we sell.

Stop by our store and check out the latest products, or just to get some ideas flowing!

Chesapeake Film Festival Events at Academy Art Museum, Easton

Free Preview Event and Director Discussion – August 17 @ 5:30 p.m.

VIP Opening Night Celebration – September 30 @ 5:30 p.m.

Chesapeake Film Festival (CFF) and Academy Art Museum (AAM) join forces to bring you a thrilling collaboration at this year’s CFF. Marking the 16th year of this beloved regional film festival, CFF will offer free and VIP special events at AAM in Easton from September 30 to October 1. Festival director Cid Collins Walker expresses excitement about this partnership, stating, “The CFF is overjoyed to be collaborating once again with the prestigious Academy Art Museum

and their staff on an event that we expect will be well-attended and well-received by the community.”

Don’t miss the free preview event at AAM on August 17 at 5:30 p.m. Join us for a screening of the film With Peter Bradley, featuring intimate conversations with the renowned 80-year-old abstract painter, Peter Bradley. Director Alex Rappoport takes you on a journey through Bradley’s artistic development, fame, and unique approach to creating artwork. The evening

Chesapeake Film Festival

will include a guest speaker, AAM Director Sarah Jesse, and a Zoom chat with director Alex Rappoport, moderated by CFF board member Kimberly Skyrme. Limited space is available for this free event.

Experience the grandeur of the VIP Opening Night Reception on September 30 at 5:30 p.m. at AAM. As part of the celebration, indulge in freshly-shucked oysters while watching the world premiere of A Passion for Oyster s, a captivating documentary that explores the enduring legacy of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. Renowned local contributors Tom Horton, Dave Harp, Sandy Cannon-Brown, and

Richard Tilghman generously provide the shucked oysters. Celebrity chef Jordan Lloyd of Hambleton House will cater the event. Access to this exclusive experience is available for $125 per ticket, covering the VIP reception and all films and events during the LIVE Festival. Tickets can be purchased online at chesapeakefilmfestival.com starting September 1.

Join us for the 2023 Chesapeake Film Festival, which has transformed downtown Easton into a film lover’s mecca for over 16 years. The LIVE Festival kicks off on September 30 at the historic Avalon Theatre, followed by a second day at the Ebeneezer Theatre on October 1. The festival will also feature a

Chesapeake Film Festival

7-day Virtual Festival from October 2 to October 8, showcasing over 50 outstanding documentaries, narrative fi lms, animations, and engaging conversations with fi lmmakers. The Live Festival starts with the Maryland Premiere of Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection, a captivating documentary about the singer’s life and musical legacy. Don’t miss the chance to engage with the fi lm team, including Executive Producer Andy Streitfeld and Associate Producer Jon Gann, who will be present for audience questions. The opening day includes blocks of documentary and narrative shorts, as well as the World Premiere of , directed by Harold Jackson, an award-winning director and CFF Board Member.

For more information on CFF’s fi lm lineup and events, and to purchase tickets, please visit chesapeakefi lmfestival.com. Advertising and sponsorship opportunities for the festival are still available. For

more information, please contact artisticdirector@chesapeakefilmfestival.com.

About Academy Art Museum: Located at 106 South Street in Easton, Maryland, the Academy Art Museum is the premier art museum on the Eastern Shore. Offering highquality exhibitions and art classes for all ages, the museum features works by renowned artists such as James Turrell, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Pat Steir, Richard Diebenkorn, and many more. With a focus on American and European artists, the permanent collection spans four centuries and includes recent acquisitions by Graciela Iturbide and Zanele Muholi.

AAM also provides arts education to school children in the region and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Admission to the museum is now free, allowing barrier-free access to art for all. Visit the museum Tuesday through Sunday during the specified hours for a remarkable art experience.

Currently on view at the Academy Art Museum:

• Mary Cassatt: Labor and Leisure

• Labor and Leisure in the Permanent Collection

• Earth Abides: Selections from the Permanent Collection

• Fractured Modernities: Contemporary Art from Turkey

• Hoesy Corona: Terrestrial Caravan

Kibby & Steve Dalton

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New Oxford Museum Exhibit Honors

Talbot Decoys and Carvers

A special exhibit, Duck, Duck, Goose: Celebrating Talbot County Decoys and Carvers, will open at the Oxford Museum on August 19. The show will provide an overview of the business and sport that has been central to Chesapeake Bay culture for more than 100 years.

Wooden decoys were originally utilitarian objects produced by the thousands to attract migrating waterfowl to hunters’ awaiting guns. Today, they are recognized as genuine works of folk art, actively collected and highly valued.

Well-known decoy makers worked all along the Bay during the first half of the 20th century, but this exhibit will be the first devoted solely to the carvers of Talbot County. The Oxford Museum will bring together rare examples of waterfowl decoys and decorative carvings from important private and museum collections around the area, as well as fowling guns, gear, historic photographs and documents, videos and even an outdoor hunting blind with a rig of decoys.

Stuart Parnes, past museum president and volunteer curator, said, “We hope that the show

will offer a fascinating introduction to the world of decoy carving for anyone visiting the museum while providing history buffs and carving connoisseurs with a new perspective on Talbot County’s contributions to this traditional artform.”

Duck, Duck, Goose will run through November 12 at the Oxford Museum, 101 S. Morris Street, Oxford. Admission to the museum is free of charge, and special programs are free to museum members. Museum hours are Friday through Monday, 10 to 4. Programs, classes and demonstrations will be scheduled during the run of the show. Visit oxfordmuseummd.org for more information.

Bountiful’s Annual “Blue Moon” Tent Sale

Returns August 19 & 20

Store’s entire in-stock inventory will be half off for two days only.

Bountiful Home by Jamie Merida, the Eastern Shore’s premier shop for high quality furniture, home accessories and interior design, is bringing back its famous Blue Moon sale Saturday, August 19 and Sunday, August 20, 2023. Everything in the store will be 50% for two days only, and the team will once again pitch the signature large white tents in the parking lot full of additional merchandise brought in just for the sale.

“Get here early!” says Jamie Merida. “People start lining up at 7 a.m. or earlier and wait for us to open.”

The sale takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at his 16,000 sq ft store on Goldsborough Street in Easton, Maryland.

With this rare opportunity to enjoy half off taking place a few days

shy of the next blue moon, it made sense for Merida to name the annual event his Blue Moon sale. This is Bountiful Home’s 19th year hosting its Blue Moon sale.

Dining tables, sofas, chairs, dressers, lighting, pillows, candles, gifts, books and more are among the thousands of items customers will enjoy at half off their usual retail prices. Customers looking for something new under their feet won’t want to miss out on 20% off flooring orders all weekend long.

The sale not only includes Bountiful’s bestsellers and floor items –it includes new merchandise, too. The Bountiful team is unpacking boxes upon boxes of new lighting, chairs, pillows, tables, bedding and much, much more in time for the Blue Moon sale.

Just Picked Desserts

Season after season, Eastern Shore cooks have lovingly served and impressed visitors with their tantalizing desserts. In summer, they feature pies of strawberries, blackberries or blueberries. Whether obtained through handpicking in local berry patches or by raiding the fruit stands, fresh berries are a delicate way to enhance and vary the level of sweetness in a dessert. If possible, keep freshly

picked berries at room temperature until serving time to preserve that sun-warmed, right-off-thevine flavor, and wait to wash them until right before they’re used.

Tarts, trifles, cobblers and ice creams are often served in the backyard as the sun sets and the fireflies emerge. The rich and delicious taste of a trifle is as spectacular as its delicate appearance. Usually served in a large footed

Tidewater Kitchen

glass bowl, its colorful and symmetrical arrangement is a centerpiece in itself!

Sometimes the simplest dessert is the best way to end a meal. Here are some suggestions for delicious

spur-of-the-moment desserts:

1. Sprinkle nutmeg over a bowl of sliced nectarines in cream, dust strawberries with cardamom and sugar, or add a splash of kirsch to a bowl of pitted fresh cherries.

2. Pair fresh figs with aged blue cheese, apricots with tangy goat cheese or watermelon with feta— the salty cheese heightens the flavor of the ripe melon.

3. Wine goes well with fruit. Pour champagne over mixed berries, or steep sliced strawberries in white wine with a little sugar and slivered fresh mint leaves.

No matter the occasion, from a backyard barbecue to an elegant party, these desserts capture the essence of summer.

Farm-Fresh Nectarine & Cinnamon Shortcakes with Greek Yogurt

Biscuits

2 cups organic all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, pasture grazed, cut into

1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup organic whole milk

1 farm-fresh large egg

Filling

2 pounds nectarines (about 8 medium), peeled, pitted and sliced

2/3 cup (packed) golden brown

sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Greek Yogurt

3 cups organic Greek yogurt (24 ounces)

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

For biscuits: Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with

parchment paper. Combine first 5 ingredients in food processor; blend 10 seconds. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk milk and egg in small bowl and add to proces -

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sor; pulse until mixture resembles small peas. Continue pulsing just until dough comes together. Turn dough out onto work surface; knead gently 5 turns. Shape into a log and cut crosswise into 8 rounds. Pat each round to 1-inch thickness; place on prepared baking sheet. Bake biscuits until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours.

For filling: Combine half of nectarines with 2/3 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice in large heavy skillet. Cook over high heat until fruit is just tender and juices bubble thickly, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Remove fruit to a bowl and repeat with remaining nectarines, sugar and lemon juice. Set aside for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

For Greek yogurt: Combine yogurt and sugar in bowl; whisk to blend.

Cut biscuits in half horizontally.

Place 1 biscuit bottom in each of 8 bowls. Spoon filling and yogurt mixture onto each; cover each with biscuit top.

Lemon Curd with Farm-Fresh Strawberry Tart Curd

2 farm-fresh large eggs

1/3 cup organic sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice & zest of one lemon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) pasture grazed unsalted butter

Crust

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, pasture grazed, cut into

1/2-inch cubes

2 tablespoons (or more) chilled whipping cream

1 large farm-fresh egg yolk

1-1/2 quarts fresh strawberries, stem end of each cut flat

1/2 cup good strawberry jam; such as Chef Salter’s from the Easton or Salisbury farmers market

For curd: Whisk eggs, sugar and lemon juice in small heavy saucepan until blended. Add butter and lemon zest. Stir over medium heat until curd thickens to pudding consistency, about 8 minutes. Transfer to small bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface of curd and chill at least 2 hours.

For crust: Combine flour, sugar and salt in food processor; blend 5 seconds. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons cream and egg yolk. Blend until moist clumps form, adding more cream by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap and chill 1 hour. Roll out

Slot Docks Ready for Fall!

• Kayak Docks

• Re-Decking

• Pressure Wash & Seal

• Boat Lifts, PWC Lifts

• Gangways

• Solar Dock Lighting

• Floating Piers

• Rowing Docks

• Kayak Racks

• Ladders

• Dock Boxes

• Piling Caps

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dough on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inchdiameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim overhang to ½ inch. Fold in overhang and press firmly, forming double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork; refrigerate 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake until golden, pressing with back of fork if crust bubbles, about 20 minutes. Cool crust completely on rack. Spread curd in crust. Stand berries in curd. Strain jam into saucepan; warm briefly to thin. Brush jam over berries. Chill until glaze sets, at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours. Release tart from pan. Do ahead: Curd and dough can

be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Lemon-Blueberry Trifle with Fresh Whipped Cream Syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice & zest of one lemon

¼ cup water

Curd

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4 farm-fresh large eggs

1 cup organic sugar

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, pasture grazed, room temperature

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Fruit and cake

4 half-pint baskets fresh blueberries or whatever fruit is in season

1/4 cup organic sugar

16-oz frozen pound cake, thawed, or homemade

Whipped cream topping

2 cups chilled whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For syrup: Combine sugar, lemon juice and water in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 1 minute. Cover and chill.

For curd: Whisk eggs, sugar and lemon juice in medium heavy saucepan to blend. Add butter and lemon zest. Stir over medium heat until curd thickens to pudding consistency, about 10 minutes. Transfer to small bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface of curd. Chill until cold, at least 4 hours. Curd can be made up to 3 days ahead.

For fruit and cake: Combine 2 baskets berries and 1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons powdered sugar 410-822-2205

in bowl. Mash berries coarsely with fork. Let stand until juices form, stirring occasionally, about

30 minutes.

Cut cake crosswise into 8 pieces. Cut each piece into 3 strips. Line bottom of 3-quart trifle bowl with 8 cake strips, trimming to fit. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons syrup, then spread with 2/3 cup curd and top with half of mashed berries. Repeat layering. Top with remaining cake, syrup and curd. Cover; chill overnight.

For whipped cream topping: Beat cream with powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl until peaks form; spread over trifle. Mound remaining berries in center.

Streusel Farm-Fresh Peaches & Cream Pie Dough for one pie crust

Tidewater Kitchen

1 -1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, pasture grazed

Ice-cold water

Streusel topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 tablespoons cold pasture grazed butter

Fresh whipped cream

1 pint very cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups sliced and peeled fresh peaches (or your favorite frozen fruit, thawed, if peaches aren’t in season)

1/2 cup organic sugar

Tidewater Kitchen

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Dash ground nutmeg

1 large farm-fresh egg

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

For pie crust: Combine flour and salt; cut in cold butter until crumbly. Gradually add 3–5 tablespoons ice-cold water and toss with a fork until dough holds together when pressed. Shape into a disk; wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 1/8-inch-thick circle; transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Trim crust to ½ inch beyond rim of plate;

flute edge. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

In a large bowl, combine peaches, sugar, flour and nutmeg. In a small bowl, whisk egg and cream. Pour over peaches; toss to combine. Place in crust. Bake 35 minutes.

For streusel topping: In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in butter until crumbly.

Sprinkle streusel topping over outer edges of pie, leaving center uncovered. Bake 15–20 minutes or until golden brown, covering edges with foil to prevent over-browning if necessary. Cool on a wire rack.

For whipped cream: Beat cream with powdered sugar and vanilla

in a bowl until peaks form. Serve on top of cooled pie.

Aunt Nonnie’s Orange Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Farm-Fresh Berries

Cake

2-1/2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1-1/2 cups organic sugar

3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1-1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large farm-fresh eggs

1 cup organic whole milk

Filling

2-1/2 pint baskets of your favorite fruit in season

2 tablespoons organic brown sugar

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup pasture grazed unsalted butter, room temperature

3-1/4 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1-1/2-inch-

high sides; line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.

Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until blended. Beat in concentrate, peel and vanilla. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in flour mixture in 4 additions, alternating with milk in 3 additions. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in pans on rack.

For filling: Reserve small amount of berries for topping. Combine remaining berries, sugar

and lemon juice in small heavy saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil until mixture is reduced to 3/4 cup, stirring occasionally and mashing berries coarsely with

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Tidewater Kitchen

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fork, about 8 minutes. Chill uncovered until cold, about 30 minutes.

For frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in bowl to blend. Beat in powdered sugar in 4 additions, then orange concentrate, peel and vanilla. Chill until firm but spreadable, about 30 minutes.

Cut around cakes to loosen. Turn cakes out and peel off parchment. Place 1 layer, flat side up, on platter. Spread filling to within ½ inch of edges. Chill 5 minutes. Top with second layer, flat side down. Spread ½ cup frosting thinly all over cake to seal. Spread remaining frosting over cake. Mound remaining blueberries on top. (Can be made 1 day ahead; chill. Serve at room temperature.).

Ice Cream Pie with Hot Fudge Sauce and Farm-Fresh Cherries or Blackberries

15 chocolate cookies or a premade graham cracker crust

1/4 cup pasture grazed butter, melted

3/4 cup your favorite good-quality hot fudge ice cream topping

4 cups vanilla ice cream, homemade or good-quality storebought, softened

3 cups fresh or frozen dark sweet cherries or blackberries, pitted and quartered, divided

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Pulse cookies in a food proces -

Tidewater Kitchen

sor until fine crumbs form. Add butter; process until blended. Press mixture onto bottom and up sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie plate. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Carefully spread hot fudge topping over bottom of crust. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

Combine ice cream and 1 cup cherries or blackberries; spread over hot fudge. Freeze until firm, about 8 hours.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine water, sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir in remaining cherries. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until thickened and cherries or blackberries are soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. If desired, stir in a splash of liqueur. Cool completely.

Remove pie from freezer 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with sauce.

A longtime resident of Oxford, Pamela Meredith, formerly Denver’s NBC Channel 9 Children’s Chef, has taught both adult and children’s cooking classes. She currently resides in Easton.

For more of Pam’s recipes, visit the Story Archive tab at tidewatertimes.com.

Executive Chef

Adam Flood

"The best new restaurant on the Eastern Shore!"

Tilghman’s Island

“Great Choptank Island” was granted to Seth Foster in 1659. Thereafter it was known as Foster’s Island, and remained so through a succession of owners until Matthew Tilghman of Claiborne inherited it in 1741. He and his heirs owned the island for over a century and it has been Tilghman’s Island ever since, though the northern village and the island’s postal designation are simply “Tilghman.”

For its first 175 years, the island was a family farm, supplying grains, vegetables, fruit, cattle, pigs and timber. Although the owners rarely were in residence, many slaves were: an 1817 census listed 104. The last Tilghman owner, General Tench Tilghman (not Washington’s aide-de-camp), removed the slaves in the 1830s and began selling off lots. In 1849, he sold his remaining interests to James Seth, who continued the development.

The island’s central location in the middle Bay is ideally suited for watermen harvesting the Bay in all seasons. The years before the Civil War saw the influx of the first families we know today. A second wave arrived after the War, attracted by the advent of oyster dredging in the 1870s. Hundreds of dredgers and tongers operated out of Tilghman’s Island, their catches sent to the cities by schooners. Boat building, too, was an important industry.

The boom continued into the 1890s, spurred by the arrival of steamboat service, which opened vast new markets for Bay seafood. Islanders quickly capitalized on the opportunity as several seafood buyers set up shucking and canning operations on pilings at the edge of the shoal of Dogwood Cove. The discarded oyster shells eventually became an island with seafood packing houses, hundreds of workers, a store, and even a post office.

The steamboats also brought visitors who came to hunt, fish, relax and escape the summer heat of the cities. Some families stayed all summer in one of the guest houses that sprang up in the villages of Tilghman, Avalon, Fairbank and Bar Neck. Although known for their independence, Tilghman’s Islanders enjoy showing visitors how to pick a crab, shuck an oyster or find a good fishing spot.

In the twentieth century, Islanders pursued these vocations in farming, on the water, and in the thriving seafood processing industry. The “Tilghman Brand” was known throughout the eastern United States, but as the Bay’s bounty diminished, so did the number of water-related jobs. Still, three of the few remaining Bay skipjacks (sailing dredgeboats) can be seen here, as well as two working harbors with scores of power workboats.

Caroline County – A Perspective

Caroline County is the very definition of a rural community. For more than 300 years, the county’s economy has been based on “market” agriculture.

Caroline County was created in 1773 from Dorchester and Queen Anne’s counties. The county was named for Lady Caroline Eden, the wife of Maryland’s last colonial governor, Robert Eden (1741-1784).

Denton, the county seat, was situated on a point between two ferry boat landings. Much of the business district in Denton was wiped out by the fire of 1863.

Following the Civil War, Denton’s location about fifty miles up the Choptank River from the Chesapeake Bay enabled it to become an important shipping point for agricultural products. Denton became a regular port-ofcall for Baltimore-based steamer lines in the latter half of the 19th century.

Preston was the site of three Underground Railroad stations during the 1840s and 1850s. One of those stations was operated by Harriet Tubman’s parents, Benjamin and Harriet Ross. When Tubman’s parents were exposed by a traitor, she smuggled them to safety in Wilmington, Delaware.

Linchester Mill, just east of Preston, can be traced back to 1681, and possibly as early as 1670. The mill is the last of 26 water-powered mills to operate in Caroline County and is currently being restored. The long-term goals include rebuilding the millpond, rehabilitating the mill equipment, restoring the miller’s dwelling, and opening the historic mill on a scheduled basis.

Federalsburg is located on Marshyhope Creek in the southern-most part of Caroline County. Agriculture is still a major portion of the industry in the area; however, Federalsburg is rapidly being discovered and there is a noticeable influx of people, expansion and development. Ridgely has found a niche as the “Strawberry Capital of the World.” The present streetscape, lined with stately Victorian homes, reflects the transient prosperity during the countywide canning boom (1895-1919). Hanover Foods, formerly an enterprise of Saulsbury Bros. Inc., for more than 100 years, is the last of more than 250 food processors that once operated in the Caroline County region.

Points of interest in Caroline County include the Museum of Rural Life in Denton, Adkins Arboretum near Ridgely, and the Mason-Dixon Crown Stone in Marydel. To contact the Caroline County Office of Tourism, call 410-479-0655 or visit their website at www.tourcaroline.com .

Queen Anne’s County

The history of Queen Anne’s County dates back to the earliest Colonial settlements in Maryland. Small hamlets began appearing in the northern portion of the county in the 1600s. Early communities grew up around transportation routes, the rivers and streams, and then roads and eventually railroads. Small towns were centers of economic and social activity and evolved over the years from thriving centers of tobacco trade to communities boosted by the railroad boom.

Queenstown was the original county seat when Queen Anne’s County was created in 1706, but that designation was passed on to Centreville in 1782. It’s location was important during the 18th century, because it is near a creek that, during that time, could be navigated by tradesmen. A hub for shipping and receiving, Queenstown was attacked by English troops during the War of 1812.

Construction of the Federal-style courthouse in Centreville began in 1791 and is the oldest courthouse in continuous use in the state of Maryland. Today, Centreville is the largest town in Queen Anne’s County. With its relaxed lifestyle and tree-lined streets, it is a classic example of small town America.

The Stevensville Historic District, also known as Historic Stevensville, is a national historic district in downtown Stevensville, Queen Anne’s County. It contains roughly 100 historic structures, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located primarily along East Main Street, a portion of Love Point Road, and a former section of Cockey Lane.

The Chesapeake Heritage and Visitor Center in Chester at Kent Narrows provides and overview of the Chesapeake region’s heritage, resources and culture. The Chesapeake Heritage and Visitor Center serves as Queen Anne’s County’s official welcome center.

Queen Anne’s County is also home to the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (formerly Horsehead Wetland Center), located in Grasonville. The CBEC is a 500-acre preserve just 15 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Over 200 species of birds have been recorded in the area.

Embraced by miles of scenic Chesapeake Bay waterways and graced with acres of pastoral rural landscape, Queen Anne’s County offers a relaxing environment for visitors and locals alike. For more information about Queen Anne’s County, visit www.qac.org .

Kent County and Chestertown at a Glance

Kent County is a treasury of early American history. Its principal towns and back roads abound with beautiful old homes and historic landmarks.

The area was first explored by Captain John Smith in 1608. Kent County was founded in 1642 and named for the shire in England that was the home of many of Kent’s earliest colonists. When the first legislature assembled in 1649, Kent County was one of two counties in the colony, thus making it the oldest on the Eastern Shore. It extended from Kent Island to the present boundary.

The first settlement, New Yarmouth, thrived for a time and, until the founding of Chestertown, was the area’s economic, social and religious center.

Chestertown, the county seat, was founded in 1706 and served as a port of entry during colonial times. A town rich in history, its attractions include a blend of past and present. Its brick sidewalks and attractive antiques stores, restaurants and inns beckon all to wander through the historic district and enjoy homes and places with architecture ranging from the Georgian mansions of wealthy colonial merchants to the elaborate style of the Victorian era.

Second largest district of restored 18th-century homes in Maryland, Chestertown is also home to Washington College, the nation’s tenth oldest liberal arts college, founded in 1782. Washington College was also the only college that was given permission by George Washington for the use of his name, as well as given a personal donation of money.

The beauty of the Eastern Shore and its waterways, the opportunity for boating and recreation, the tranquility of a rural setting and the ambiance of living history offer both visitors and residents a variety of pleasing experiences. A wealth of events and local entertainment make a visit to Chestertown special at any time of the year.

For more information about events and attractions in Kent County, contact the Kent County Visitor Center at 410-778-0416, visit www. kentcounty.com or e-mail tourism@kentcounty.com . For information about the Historical Society of Kent County, call 410-778-3499 or visit www.kentcountyhistory.org/geddes.php . For information specific to Chestertown visit www.chestertown.com .

Changes: Flashing Lights in the Rearview Mirror

Excerpt from a Memoir by Roger Vaughan

12. Music: Seiji Ozawa

When the twenty-year-old Boeing 707 lifted off from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport en route to Peking, it was a nervous moment for the 104 players, a dozen staffers a few corporate sponsors from Mobil, Coke, Gillette and Pan Am, and for myself and the twenty other journalists who were covering the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 1979 tour of China. The aircraft had been well used. The seats were threadbare. It was difficult to close some of the overhead compartments. China was still in recovery from ten long years of suppression under the Gang of Four, frighteningly powerful enforcers of a radical power elite who had faithfully carried out Chairman Mao Zedong’s harsh policies of persecution. The country had been closed to foreigners during that time.

Mao had died in September 1976. The Gang was deposed one month later. But even after three years, Chinese citizens were still dressed

in identical navy blue outfits that could have passed for prison garb and got around on identical bicycles manufactured by the state. Foreigners felt uneasy on the streets. Our wanderings were restricted to stores and restaurants that were labeled “Friendship.” All other areas were off limits, and even for Friendship outings the presence of military uniformed “guides” was

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required. It all combined to make us nervous being packed into the creaky old commercial airliner, with the harsh sound of Chinese coming from the cockpit, feeling the nose lifting off, sensing the wheels leaving the pavement, hearing the landing gear folding up and settling with a subtle clunk into its in-flight compartment. Many of the musicians, unused to flying, were anxiously clutching their precious instruments and hoping for the best. Ten seconds after liftoff, that crucial stage when flight has not quite been fully attained, every emergency oxygen mask on the plane dropped as one from its overhead storage compartment. There was a brief moment of horrified silence as the mass of masks hung there like so many mini piñatas swaying and dancing to the 707’s vibrations. Then we all laughed a little too heartily.

The BSO was in China because Seiji Ozawa had been invited.

We were flying because of Seiji Ozawa, who was in his sixth year as the BSO’s music director. Ozawa is a Japanese man, forty-four years old in 1979, who was born in China thanks to his father, a dentist, and his mother having temporarily moved there in the 1930s. The BSO was in China because Seiji Ozawa had been invited. He had accepted, telling his hosts, “I will bring my orchestra.”

Ozawa first came to the attention of the western music world in 1959, when he won the International Competition of Orchestra Conductors held in France. Charles Munch, then BSO music director and a judge of the contest, invited Ozawa to study at Tanglewood, the BSO’s summer home. At Tanglewood, he won the highest award, which brought him to the attention of Leonard Bernstein, who asked him to tour Japan with the New York Philharmonic in the spring of 1961 and to stay on as his assistant. In the terribly competitive, political and fickle world of classical music, Ozawa’s rise had been meteoric. He had been music director of the Toronto and San Francisco symphonies before arriving in Boston in 1973. In those days, Boston was a city sure of itself. Arrogant is only half a shade too strong to describe the prevailing feeling among the power structure of this old province whose streets were laid out by meandering cows. “The Proper Bostonian did not just happen: he was planned to fit into a social world so small he could not help being well-defined,” wrote Cleveland Amory in his definitive book on the subject, The Proper Bostonians. “The Lees, Cabots, Jacksons, and Higginsons,” Amory continued, quoting Col. Henry Lee, a Boston First Family man, “knew

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each other well…and had a satisfying belief that New England morality and intellectuality had produced nothing better than they were, so they contentedly made a little clique of themselves, and intermarried very much, with a sure and cheerful faith that in such alliances there can be no blunder.”

The Boston Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1881 by a Higginson (Major Henry L.), a Boston Brahmin who was a broker at Lee, Higginson & Co., a firm started by the Major’s father. Henry L. was noted for both his devoted work ethic and his love of music. His control of the orchestra was singular and personal. His goal for the BSO stressed “high art.” For several years, he paid the orchestra’s annual deficit from his own pocket. As of 1979, there had been only four orchestra managers. The orchestra board, like neighboring Harvard’s, was self-perpetuating. Nepotism was openly practiced in the lower echelon jobs. All this propriety, tradition and force were most evident at the Friday afternoon concerts during the winter season, known as “the lady’s concerts.” Black limousines waited at curbside. Quilted nylon raincoats by Lawrence of London were uniform. The hall was a veritable sea of gray heads. The orchestra was resplendent in

black. The concertmaster presided over tuning. Then silence and, from stage right, the conductor entered smartly, with purpose.

Seiji Ozawa is small in stature, no more than 5’6” in his patent leather shoes. No more than 125 pounds. His black hair was rich and thick, flecked with gray, and just brushed his shoulders. His face is broad, intelligent. Handsome. In 1979, he had been the orchestra’s music director for five years, and still there was a reaction when he appeared, a murmur of…enthrallment? Or, perhaps (still), surprise?

Seiji Ozawa is small in stature, no more than 5’6” in his patent leather shoes.

Credit the BSO for side-stepping propriety and tradition to place Seiji Ozawa on its podium. From the moment he entered the stage, Ozawa was poetry in motion. He was superbly coordinated. He had the body control of a karate master. His bow to the audience was elegant, engaging. It’s no surprise he was a good tennis player.

In the music, his right hand swept the baton. His left hand floated independently, delicately: coaxing, urging, soothing and smoothing with all the grace of a Balinese dancer’s hand. His range of gestures seemed bottomless. From the sensitive harmonic beauty of Fauré’s Requiem, to the percussive, schizophrenic mood of Messian’s Three Short Liturgies of the Divine Presence (both were on the program in the fall of 1979), he

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was two totally different conductors. The former he accomplished with the most subtle, telling and flowing of moves. For the latter he became a stiff-limbed, animated doll, communicating the intricate, dissonant piece as if controlled from above by strings.

The concerts I watched Ozawa conduct brought me from my distant, unremarkable musical past into total involvement with the orchestra. For me, Ozawa could conduct with his back.

Conducting is a strange and magical business. Like any kind of real leadership, it is full of undefinable, unique combinations of qualities. Much of it has to do with pure presence, how one affects the space he is in: how, for instance, in the common focus of a company of strangers, a person might cope with a fit of sneezing. Conductors come in all shapes, sizes and dispositions, with as many techniques as there are ways to shake a stick. But all the good ones will have in common a presence that is compelling.

an orchestra in its tracks. Conductors must understand mob psychology, develop a certain set of reflexes—like not hitting the brakes hard when driving on ice—before they can lose themselves in the music.

Once he has studied the score, Ozawa says he will be hearing a sound: “Sometimes it won’t mean anything. Sometimes it connects, is important to past experience. But often it is direct. It goes through ear to heart or soul. Is basic pleasure to man. No language, no knowledge is necessary for that.

All conductors know that one false move can stop an orchestra in its tracks.

“Rehearsal is recreation of composer’s art with orchestra. Conductor has idea. Maybe red. Orchestra may make pinky red. Some players maybe make very bloody red. Conductor is like traffic police, make clear which direction to go. The orchestra gives me hint. I have strong opinions, but I am not stubborn. I am not democratic, but I am flexible. I may not get what I hear at home with score. Music is piece of art hard to grab. Other art not that crucial. Music is crucial, like God decided.”

Conducting, like singing, is a lonely business. The conductor must let the musicians know when to play, how to play and where to play, and must also give them the freedom to express themselves. All conductors know that one false move can stop

When I asked Seiji how he stayed enthusiastic about conducting seventy-five concerts a year, how he avoided the inevitable sinking spells inherent in any job, he cited the orchestra itself. “These are very disciplined, high-quality people,” he told me. “They have pride, responsibility. This orchestra can play anything.

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They are serious. Many players are the best in their instrument. The best! That is scary, and also very good. In rehearsal is real serious battle. I study hard. If I am clear, they know. They know when I am not prepared.” Seiji smiled. “Every day I take final exam.”

Ozawa explained there are only two types of conductors. “Those who conduct up and down, those who conduct side to side. The up and down people come from piano, where the tone doesn’t stay. The others think horizontal line, like cellists.” Originally a pianist, Ozawa says he belongs to the up and down school. Yet watching him conduct, it is impossible to reduce his polished technique to that simplistic explanation. *

not lock, the musicians were beside themselves, the violinists especially. Many of their instruments were valued in the mid-to-high six-figure range, with at least one of them hitting seven figures. Hotel staffers assured the musicians their instruments would be safe, but many of them chose to carry their violins with them at all times rather than leave them unattended in an unlocked hotel room. In China.

The rooms were pleasant, and the staff was polite and accommodating.

The hotel’s honor-bound standard had an effect on those of us who were eager to make a souvenir of the handsomely engraved water glass that was a staple in every room. After a lively argument with myself that went on for several days, just before we left I removed the glass from my suitcase and put it back on the side table.

Having survived the plane flight, the next hurdle for the musicians was the hotel, a handsome building designed and built by the French. It was a good example of a business inroad in China that had been attempted by many foreign countries. After their investment, the French had been thanked and summarily sent packing by the Chinese. The rooms were pleasant, and the staff was polite and accommodating. The shock was the lack of security. When they discovered the rooms did

All the musicians arrived in China bearing gifts for their counterparts in the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China who would be playing with them. (The orchestra was restructured and renamed the China National Symphony Orchestra in 1996). There were many stories of how music had been severely restricted to a few “patriotic” pieces under the Gang of Four, and after the first meeting of the two orchestras, the BSO players were shaking their heads over what they called “the high school quality” of many players’ instruments. Even so, they

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reported that while the Chinese musicians properly thanked them for their gifts of high-quality paraphernalia (reeds, mouthpieces, etc.), the Boston players came away with the feeling that the Chinese were convinced the ones China produced were better.

The dinners were memorable. Lavish banquets would be a better description applied to every dinner. With our hosts, plus invited guests, the banquets fed 200 people, at least. They were held in gorgeously decorated rooms the size of gymnasiums, where details like many hundreds of feet of delicately hand-painted egg and dart crown molding stunned the eye. The quantity of food, which arrived in several courses, each in a serving bowl large enough to feed the ten people seated at the tables, was exceeded by the quality.

inspired by the Baijui to visit other tables with glass in hand to give them a “ganbei!” Many diners from both countries discovered they had gotten intoxicated in common. A highlight was when one of our hosts stood and gave a long description (in barely passable English) of how to cook Peking Duck. He closed by saying that the recipe included every part of the bird—or, as he put it, “everything but the feeders (feathers).”

Who could resist the notion of having acupuncture in China?

The conversation was lively, orchestrated by an English-speaking host at every table and well stoked by endless quantities of Baijiu, a clear, strong liquor popular for toasting. We all quickly learned to say “ganbei,” translated as “dry cup” in English, and just as quickly learned that when he who toasts you says “ganbei,” it means you must empty your cup in one gulp. Dinners were a riot, with many of the Americans

After one banquet, the BSO’s public relations man, Peter Gelb—who would go on to become General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in 2016—corralled several of us from his media cadre to have acupuncture. It seemed that Seiji Ozawa was a committed acupuncture patient and had a practitioner standing by wherever he went. Gelb had arranged for us to visit the acupuncturists, who had set up shop in a hotel room. Who could resist the notion of having acupuncture in China? In 1979, acupuncture had not yet become trendy in the United States.

The hotel room was barely illuminated by the 25-watt bulbs that were standard, causing the stacks of needles bunched in several of those handsome engraved water glasses to glitter with a certain menace. The practitioners seemed to be standing at attention in their starched white full-length coats. We all exchanged

bows, then relaxed on the beds and chairs for treatment. Soon our group was motionless, looking like porcupines with many long needles protruding from hands, arms and legs. It was so relaxing that I sought out an acupuncturist when I returned to the States.

The next day, the combined orchestras totaling more than 200 musicians played a rousing rendition under Ozawa’s baton of John Philip Sousa’s great march, Stars and Stripes Forever —a sound that will never cease reverberating in my head. Vaughan.roger@gmail.com

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